ENGS 89/90 Reports

Year of Graduation

2024

Project Advisor

Colin Meyer

Instructor

Solomon Diamond

Document Type

Report

Publication Date

2024

Abstract

The Ararat Plain Southeast Archaeological Project (APSAP) conducts an archaeological excavation in Armenia, and needs a method to automate the washing and drying of the artifacts, which are mainly pottery sherds. The initial cleaning of excavated archaeological artifacts typically consists of manually scrubbing each artifact with a toothbrush in a bucket of water and leaving the artifacts on trays to dry in the sun for 24 hours, sometimes requiring a second wash due to dust accumulation on the surface. This process is time, labor, and water intensive, and may increase the risk of breaking or losing artifacts. Our project surveyed various cleaning and drying methods; we determined the gentlest, most effective, and most scalable washing method to be ultrasonic cleaning, and the most energy efficient drying method to be airflow from fans. Our design prioritized reproducibility by adapting off-the-shelf products. T o prevent dirt from settling on the flat top of artifacts while in the ultrasonic cleaner, we designed a stainless steel mesh basket insert that tilts the artifacts. We also developed a settling tank system to allow for the reuse of water. Our proposed solution, Auto-fact, consists of an ultrasonic cleaner, settling tank, and a drying rack with attached box fans. The implementation of Auto-fact at the APSAP site will create a 20-fold increase in productivity (cleaning 20 sherds per active minute, compared to 1 sherd per active minute) and use 80% less water. The time saved can be put towards pedagogically-rich aspects of archaeology, including cataloging, analysis, and research.

Download

Restricted

Available to Dartmouth community via local IP address.

Share

COinS